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Monday, February 1, 2016

All this for $9.65 a trip

I once said when fares hit $20 a day, I'd quit my job. I figured when that happened, I'd be close to 50 anyway, and done my mortgage, so what would it matter?

And here I am, a mere six years later after making such a statement, and I'm paying $19.30/day to get to and from work - I'll be 42 in June. It looks like I'm quitting my job a lot sooner than anticipated.

With gas being cheap, it now costs more to take the train than it does to drive. Parking would be an extra $100 for the month. So, to add it up, $56/week in gas (using my former 2008 Chevy Equinox's fuel economy) works out to $224 plus $100 to park (which is the garage at Yonge and Queens Quay - underneath the condo). Total is $324/month. Presto cost is $344/month.

All we're saving now is time. Of the times I've driven to work in the morning, it's taken, on average, an hour and a half from Courtice, but the train and bus is faster by 10 minutes (go ahead and roll your eyes, but 10 minutes is 10 minutes).

So don't mind me if I'm a bit grumpy and put off by this morning's events.

6 comments:

Sad it is coming to this. I just switched to driving last week due to working later most evenings and am saving myself approximately an hour each day. I think even with gas and parking I will come out ahead. I spent 5 years contributing to the chaos that is GO transit and TTC. Quite happy to be spending my mornings and evenings alone in my car.

After years of fighting the good fight against the entitled and deep seeded Buttsucker culture at Smoakville, I realized that all I had accomplished was to move some of the smokers twenty meters from the station doors to the handicapped ramp at the VIA station (now they were breaking rules in local, provincial and federal jurisdictions).Why pay money for the aggravation?We bought a new second car, and I've said goodbye to GO.Seems to me that if Metrolinx wants to encourage ridership, they're going about it all wrong...

Agree that fares should be lower. But it's a fairy tale to pretend driving is cheaper or better. You need to account for insurance and maintenance and depreciation. And gas prices will be going up eventually. Perhaps if TCT readers formed a formal GO Advocacy group that would be a better way to communicate necessary improvements to the GO Customer Services team.

I'm considering the average person living in Durham not serviced by local transit such as BOWMANVILLE. It's amazing that in 2016 you still can't take a local DRT bus to BOWMANVILLE. And if you don't live near Highway 2, you ain't getting a GO bus either. So you drive. This means you buy a car. Said car with its payments, insurance and gas costs you $356 a month (as it is for my friend Claire). Add in her GO cost at $344 and Clare spends $700 a month to simply go to work. Once her car is paid for (in two more years) it drops $249.00. I don't own my own car. I can't afford it.

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